Chocolates which have been most commonly seen on the market are required to have snap characteristics as a matter of importance. Such chocolates usually contain only a small amount of low-melting glyceride components, such as di-unsaturated mono-saturated glycerides (SU.sub.2) and tri-unsaturated glycerides (U.sub.3), and they are composed mainly of di-saturated mono-unsaturated glycerides (S.sub.2 U).
On the other hand, there has been known the use of particular chocolates which are required to have moldability rather than snap characteristics as a matter of importance. Typical examples of such chocolates include, what is called, plastic chocolates which can be obtained by blending ordinary chocolates with water-containing materials, such as liquid sugar, and they have been molded into a shape of man, animal or houses for decoration of cakes. However, chocolates using liquid sugar have undesired flavor and also an unfavorable mouth feel. Moreover, such chocolates have difficulty in that water contained therein is evaporated with time and discoloration occurs therewith, whereby blooms appear on their surface and they have a dry and crumbly mouth feel. For this reason, with regard to the conventional plastic chocolates, importance has been attached to the decorating characteristics on their shape rather than the mouth feel thereof. Moreover, the conventional plastic chocolates, although they have high flexibility in molding similarly to the case of clay, have difficulty in handling; for example, they are prone to adhere to fingers and the wall of a vessel.
As another means of providing chocolates with moldability, it can also be considered to blend high- to middle-melting fats with a relatively large amount of liquid fats in place of water. However, for example, when a chocolate mix is solidified in the form of a sheet and then provided with a small strain, the base may be broken or cracked, and because the solidified mix has poor flexing characteristics, they have difficulty in flexible moldability. If an arbitrary shape is desired, there have hitherto been considered only two methods, in which a chocolate mix in the molten state before solidification is poured into a desired mold or put on an object to be coated.
In the case of chocolates used together with frozen desserts, liquid fats are admixed to reduce the melting point of chocolates to prevent extremely poor melting in the mouth, which is caused by the coldness of the frozen dessert portion. To the contrary, the rate of solidification becomes decreased in the steps of coating, filling with a center piece, and molding in a chip or other shapes, and it is, therefore, necessary to make the cooling time longer. However, since there is a limit in the cooling capacity of facilities for the production of frozen desserts, the amount of liquid fats to be used for the production of chocolates for use in frozen desserts is also limited. For this reason, frozen desserts using such chocolates that have a satisfactory soft mouth feel have not yet been on the market.
On the other hand, various kinds of fats for use in chocolates have hitherto been developed. The development is directed to those which are composed mainly of di-saturated mono-unsaturated glycerides (S.sub.2 U), similarly to cacao butter. However, it has not yet been known that the above problems can be solved by using these kinds of fats in combination with liquid fats
For example, GB 2042579 A and EP 273352 A disclose a method in which saturated fatty acids are introduced in 1,3-positions of safflower oil to obtain "SLS"-rich hard butter. It has also not yet been known that the above problems of the prior art can be solved by using these kinds of hard butter in combination with a relatively large amount of liquid fats, as intended by the present invention.